Here's How to Watch International Observe the Moon Night 2018 Online Tonight!

Tonight (Oct. 20) is International Observe the Moon Night, an annual celebration allowing people all over the world to enjoy the science and beauty of our closest neighbor. Two livestreams will allow you to participate online.

The online astronomy service Slooh will present a livestream starting at 8 p.m. EDT (midnight GMT Oct. 21). It will show live telescope feeds of the moon from amateur astronomers worldwide, and live feeds from Slooh's observatories. Slooh will showcase feeds from the Institute of Astrophysics of the Canary Islands, and the Catholic University in Santiago, Chile. Questions during the show can be asked using the hashtag #ObserveTheMoon. You can watch the livestream on Slooh's website, and you can also watch here on Space.com, courtesy of Slooh. [The Moon! 10 Surprising Lunar Facts]

International Observe the Moon Night occurs on Oct. 20 this year, coinciding with the 50th anniversary of the Apollo moon program.

Credit: NASA

But if you've got a live feed of the moon that you are running yourself, Slooh has a contest for you. Post a link to your livestream on Twitter, making sure to tag @slooh. The Slooh hosts — along with the audience — will announce the best feeds at the end of the show. The categories include most exotic locale, best background scenery and sharpest live imagery. The winners will not only be featured on the Slooh website, but will also receive a copy of Slooh's anthology of short fiction about space, "The Saturn Above It."

Slooh astronomer Paige Godfrey "will talk in depth about our closest neighbor, the only other celestial body humans have stepped foot on," Slooh representatives said in a statement. "We will cover the moon's importance throughout history as an inspiration for storytelling and mythmaking."

Another livestream will showcase the moon above the historic city of Rome. The Virtual Telescope Project plans to show the moon "hanging above the celebrated monuments of the Eternal City, with the live commentary of astrophysicist Gianluca Masi, founder of the Virtual Telescope project." This livestream will start at 11 a.m. EDT (1600 UTC).

Elizabeth Howell is a contributing writer for Space.com who is one of the few Canadian journalists to report regularly on space exploration. She is pursuing a Ph.D. part-time in aerospace sciences (University of North Dakota) after completing an M.Sc. (space studies) at the same institution. She also holds a bachelor of journalism degree from Carleton University. Besides writing, Elizabeth teaches communications at the university and community college level. To see her latest projects, follow Elizabeth on Twitter at @HowellSpace.